Plans for L32/3X00 Hybrid

[pocket-rocket]

You must not have a Mrs. Mine would have my hind end for having engine parts on the kitchen table, lol. That and ours is 1/4" glass w/ a tapered and rounded edge...

[tkoforpresident]

NEW PARTS!!!


3500 LIM & Rocker arms:








that's all for now!

[tkoforpresident]

I found a site where I can order some nice "allen head" bolts for my 3400 TB and UIM. The "kit" comes with the bolts for other things as well but I really only need them for the UIM and TB. Since I can't seem to find a set of factory UIM bolts anywhere it looks like I'll be picking this set up. I suppose these bolts will look a bit nicer than stock anyhow.

[pocket-rocket]

1/4" deeper than the hole goes. Reason being, the end of the tap is tapered, so you won't get good threads all the way down if say the hole was 1/2" deep that you needed to tap and you only ran the tap down 1/2". That's why I would do the extra 1/4", to get the tapered portion of the tap through to thread the hole the entire length.

[tkoforpresident]

so only a 1/4 of an inch into the hole?

[pocket-rocket]

Wow, now you see how worn out I am. I was thinking you were tapping a bolt hole, not the CTS hole. I would only run the tap like maybe 1/4 in farther than the thickness of the metal there, that way you get threads all the way down. You also wouldn't bury it in there going that far either.

[tkoforpresident]

so how far in do i really need to go? The plan right now is to tap into the unused coolant passage in the LIM using a 1/2" NPT tap and then I guess threading in some kind of 1/2" -3/8" reducer which will allow me to install a gm 3/8 CTS

[pocket-rocket]

Take your tap and oil to the junkyard and have fun

Lol!

Or you could use a toothpick or something as a depth gauge and put some tape on the tap just a bit closer to the tip of the tap as your marker, so you don't bottom it out.

[TechRod]

Take your tap and oil to the junkyard and have fun

[tkoforpresident]

Slowing down will always provide for more rational thinking and not screwing anything up. And as you stated, you have plenty of time, so no need to solve every problem right away.

As far as the tap goes, be careful not to go too far with it. The first time I tapped the LIM, I went too far, and the tap ended up inside of the thermostat cavity. I couldn't rethread it out, and there was no way to rotate it inside the cavity, so I ended up having to destroy the brand new threads (and the LIM in the process) to get the tap out. Just a word of caution...

any ideas on what I could practice on first? Seems like it would be a worthwhile investment of time to do a few trial runs and get the hang of it.

[bszopi]

Slowing down will always provide for more rational thinking and not screwing anything up. And as you stated, you have plenty of time, so no need to solve every problem right away.

As far as the tap goes, be careful not to go too far with it. The first time I tapped the LIM, I went too far, and the tap ended up inside of the thermostat cavity. I couldn't rethread it out, and there was no way to rotate it inside the cavity, so I ended up having to destroy the brand new threads (and the LIM in the process) to get the tap out. Just a word of caution...

[tkoforpresident]

thanks for the advice guys, I will certainly use it!

[CNCguy]

Max... WD40 works very well as a cutting fluid for aluminum.

[TechRod]

Excellent, if you have another manifold or something to practice tapping a hole you might want to.
Check out http://www.ehow.com/how_7524509_drill-tap-aluminum.html
Good luck!

[tkoforpresident]

I'll try to move a little slower when it comes to trying to figure all of this out. I DO afterall have lots of time on my hands before this thing happens.

But for now I've got some new purchase pics! (Everyone loves those right?)


28# injectors from WOT:





EGR block off plate from WOT (pretty sweet lookin huh? ) :





and finally, a tap and die set from harbor freight (15$ ftw) which I'll use to tap for a CTS sensor: